Harry Potter The Next Day

I paused to catch my breath and recounted the small group as they ran by me. It was my turn to run rear guard. One of the students, a third year Hufflepuff, handed off a water bottle to me which I gulped sparingly- not wanting to risk a stitch in the side. We were finally close to our first goal, the atrium **under** the broom shed. Only Madame Hooch, Hagrid, and I were aware of the existence of this room in the catacombs. We'd discovered it during the renovations all those years ago. After the attack on the school, I'd built it in to the new escape plans. We couldn't afford to stop long, but we would have to stop the run soon and take another head count.

I sensed the air change around us signaling the opening in the tunnels ahead. Those students who could were lighting the way with their wands.

The Bloody Baron and Nick were already in the atrium- the Friar and The Gray Lady leading the stragglers. The ghosts were the key to our small success.

It was Dumbledore's plan in the face of total loss, simple & direct. Release the Owls; Call the ghosts to open the catacombs. Flee. Consolidate, grow, and rebuild. And only attempt to take the wizarding world back when we're strong enough to succeed.

This was repeated on a parchment, delivered by Fawkes after the unthinkable happened.

Lord Voldemort won.

Using the one weapon we never truly guarded against- Harry Potter himself.

I saw Narcissa and a limping Draco move swiftly past me. I pass the water bottle to them, receiving a curt nod from Narcissa.

I stand at the entrance, counting. Hoping that THIS time the number would not be smaller, praying to whatever powers that are listening- there are no more traitors in our ranks. We simply can't afford any more losses.

I see the Friar and the Gray Lady moving up the passage. No more stragglers, none alive left behind.

They were to search the school and lead any students in hiding down to this most hidden passage. We're all that are left of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 5 teachers, 2 Staff, and 183 students. Severus Snape - Potions, Minerva McGonnagal- transfigure, Charlie Weasley- Care of Magical Creatures, Remus Lupin- DADA, Hagrid- Keeper of Keys and Grounds; Poppy Pomphry- Head Medic and myself- Charms and Flying.

I quietly say into the darkness and silence- "We can afford to rest here for 90 minutes, if you are injured- please move towards the north end of the hall where the Grey lady is- Madame Pomphry will see to you."

Snape approached, deep emotional pain showing in his good eye. I motion him back out to the hallway we just came from.

How could this have happened? What went wrong?

The answer was simple- we failed.

The Previous Day – March 15, 1997 

It was still hard to get around the new castle.

Built from the old plans, raised from the rubble- most of the secret passages and probably a few new ones were the same. Many thought it was daft to build on the spot where it was known the castle was. But others took it as a sign of the future hopes and dreams of the Brittiana Wizarding World when the tall Ravenclaw Aerie Tower and the tallest Astronomy tower were magically lifted and sealed back into place in time to open for classes 6 months following the disaster..

A permanent memorial was placed in the main hall to honor the students and faculty who died in the massacre. For a change I ran by it without a second glance. Still being among the youngest faculty members, I quickly outstripped the rest at a full sprint all the while really wishing for a broom.

I began taking the winding stairs more then 2 at a time hoping I wouldn't land in one of the trick stairs at the speed I was going.

Voldemort and his followers had successfully invaded the castle again.

I saw one of the ghosts floating down through the stairs. "Sir Nicholas! Have you found them?"

"Room of Requirement."

I put on a fresh burst of speed. Was there a D.A. meeting tonight? I couldn't remember what Neville had told me. How did Voldemort get into the castle- help from the inside? Maybe students?

I was nearly out of breath when I reached the corridor just off the stairs.

The door was nowhere to be seen, but I could faintly hear the sounds of screams and spells on the other side of the wall.

Room of requirement? What I required was an entrance and the room to provide us with what we needed to defeat Voldemort permanently. I paced my required 3 circuits thinking all the while

"Griffendor- you made the room, now your heirs defend it. Help them!" Finally the door appeared. I pulled it open quickly enough to see the room dissolve from the D.A.. classroom, to resemble a dark stone room at the ministry with the stone arch with its concealing and ever-floating curtains.

Harry, Neville, Seamus, Ron, Hermione and the rest of the D.A. were fighting a losing battle for their lives against 15 death eaters and Voldemort. The room seemed huge, more then large enough to accommodate the numbers. There was a brief stunned pause as the environment changed.

Harry was the first to look and see the door was open. I heard him order Hermione and Ron to start getting the students out. Several refused to leave, including Neville. There were also several down on the floor, I was unsure who they were, but by the look of the way they fell- they wouldn't be getting back up again.

Time seemed to move into slow motion.

I provided cover fire for the students making for the exit hoping the other teachers would help get them to the grounds safely. Neville was holding his own against Bellatrix and Harry was once again facing Voldemort yelling at his friends to leave the entire time.

Voldemort was laughing in that odd high-pitched way of his. I began to think that this was only a set back. That he'd set us up. Then I heard the voices from the curtains; the voices hungering for revenge on the one who sent many of them beyond before their time.

Potter must have heard them as well, and he started to steer Voldemort towards the opening.

I saw Bellatrix fall clutching at her knee in pain. I'm not sure what Neville did, but there was a lot of blood.

"AVADA KADAVRA!!!" Potters deep voice boomed across the dungeon above the rest of the noise.

A green light shot out of his wand straight at Voldemort.

Nothing happened. Silence once again filled the room.

Then Voldemort started laughing. And pointed his wand at Harry.

"Let me show you how it's done, boy. First you have to really WANT to hurt your opponent."

"Crucio!" Harry doubled over as the red light hit him. He tried to raise his wand to protect himself, but a death eater grabbed from him. We finally got the students who could leave out the door the last one wedged the door open.

What was taking the faculty so long to get here!

Sir Nicholas found me again as if answering my unspoken thought- "Ambush, stairs moved and destroyed, having to invent a new route. Will be here soon!"

"Crucio!"

Harry hit the floor clutching his abdomen blood forming at the side of his mouth. I knew I could never cross the room in time, but I began to duel my way through the wall of death eaters to try.

"Crucio!"

Another Death eater blocked my way, a strong silver hand reached out from the robe and grabbed my by my neck and began to squeeze. As the air slowly began to run out, my thoughts and eyes were still on Harry. Very few have felt the full force of that spell from "the master" and lived to tell about it. Death would seem preferable and kind at this point.

"Accio Wand" I heard Ron's clear tenor voice and saw Harry's wand fly through the air to Ron who then sent it flying back to Harry. Harry picked up the wand, and forced himself to stand and try to cast another spell.

"Avada Kadavara!"

Potter managed to get the spell out- a bright green light flew out of his wand staggering Voldemort back a few steps before he fully regained his footing he began to cast at Harry again.

"Cruci---"

"NOOO!!!"

And a body flew threw the air at Voldemort knocking him even closer to the opening in the wall. Momentum carrying Voldemort and his assailant to the opening, tripping on the dais, and turning in such a way that I could see that the attacker was Neville. It was getting hot, harder to breathe. My neck and shoulders hurt from the pressure being exerted.

"Patrificus Totalius!" A feminine voice said from behind me. The death-eaters body went fully rigid from Hermione's spell, she worked to free me from his grasp. I was having a difficult time breathing, didn't feel like I was getting enough air, but this wasn't the time for injuries. Hermione helped me to my feet. We were back at the threshold of the room.

The students who got out were holding their own against the death eaters and had started to move the fight out into the hallways of the school. Nicholas returned to tell us the main had stairwell collapsed, taking most the faculty and many upper level students with them.

Then the unthinkable happened.

Students had taken up stations on balconies of the various floors but were not providing cover fire for the defenders, they were behaving as snipers for the attackers! And many of them had Slytheryn emblems on their robes. But I saw the emblem of the dark mark as a second insignia patch on the shoulder of one in my line of sight. I stunned the student without a second thought.

I took up a guard position on the threshold of the room to keep it from closing behind us again. The D.A., Lupin, and myself were trapped between the death eaters in the Room of Requirement, and the Slytherin students. Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonnagal slowly fought their way to our side. Time continued to crawl, where each moment was stretched into hours.

My attention was dangerously divided between the hallway, the stairway, and the Room.

I heard Voldemort cast "Crucio!" again at Harry Potter. A detached part of my mind wondered, why didn't he just kill him.

"NO!" Neville tackled Voldemort with all his might- the momentum carried them both closer to the threshold near the void. Nevelle was thrown stunned into a wall but Harry seemed to get the idea and began trying every spell he could think of from the death curse to the patronis to push him through.

For one moment it looked like he was going to succeed. Then Dumbledore entered the fray. I happened to have my attention on Harry, so I saw the change when Voldemort cast _Legemenzo_.

The boy dropped to the ground clutching his head, blood seeping through his hands from his scar. Lupin and Dumbledore finally were close enough to defend Harry. When Harry saw Dumbledore his eyes went from horror-filled to cold and dead. He stood up, oblivious to the blood still pouring down his face. And he pointed his wand, not at Voldemort- but at Dumbledore.

"Do it child!" Voldemort's voice hissed clearly.

"Adava Kadavara!"

The spell was cast quick and true. The green bolt caught Dumbledore clearly in the chest. The look of betrayed shock on his face would haunt me forever. And the look of rage on Snapes boded no good for anyone.

The only thing that crossed my mind was to get everyone out of the castle. I realized I was screaming that at the top of my lungs as I ran fully back into the Room of Requirement. Three of the walls of the room dissolved into open spaces held up by ornate columns. I grabbed the student nearest me- it was Hermione.

"Pass the word to all students and teachers- make for the south corridor entrance to the dungeons." I turned to where I last saw Snape- saw he was fighting towards me. I worked my way towards him, stunning and paralyzing as I went.

"We have to get them out of here and the death eaters are holding the main stairs. Where's Voldemort?"

"Vanished, took Potter with him I suspect. Not sure how or where." The remaining students with McGonnagal were starting to regroup in some type of formation and move towards our position. I saw she was carrying a small box.

"Get the students down the back stairs, Nick and the portraits said they're open. Lori, go there and guard and hold the entrance until we get them out. Severus, pass the word. You, students, follow Miss Finnagan to the stairs. Wait on the main floor, lock and bar all the doors behind you. The portraits will tell you how."

"Yes, Headmistress." Snape and I said in unison. She looked at us with a pained expression, but nodded.

"Students- follow me."

I saw Lupin pass the mauraders map to the Headmistress. She would need it to get to the office, save Fawkes, the Paintings, the Hat, and the sword. But she could use any object there to portkey to the secured location Dumbledore arranged as a last resort. We all knew at her age, she would be unable to make the run with us.

The next few hours are ones I'd prefer not to recall clearly in later years. The fight and flight down the stairs; Lupin joining me -holding the stairs at the bottleneck against the Death Eaters. The Gray lady and fat Friar going through leading remaining students into the other entrances of the catacombs. Fawkes delivering Dumbledor's final message, then his signal that Macgonnagal was successful in her mission. The ghosts unsealing the catacombs- the last and most secret way out of the castle. But it was the only way we knew to get the students off the grounds undetected. The betrayal of two students that were led there who totally massacred a group of nearly 75 Hufflepuff students before Snape could take them down with all of hell burning in his eyes.

Nicholas finding Harry Potter and Voldemort facing off again in the entry hall. Snape and Lupin leaving to try to rescue Harry, the look on Snape's face boded ill for both of them. Directing Dobby to take the remaining stores of portable food and water, divide them up into packs- leave them in the first atrium in the 'combs, release the owl's,- and lead the house elves to my family estate in Scotland.

The Catacombs are a maze of dark, damp, twisting tunnels. I knew we had to run at breakneck speed before the set spells began collapsing the tunnels behind us. We ran the risk of getting lost or taking wrong turns. But we finally got to the small, nearly hidden side tunnel Madame Hooch, Hagrid, and I had created years ago. From then it was a 4-mile loop under the grounds from the lake to the Broom Shed back to the main escape tunnel. We were going to need brooms once we got above ground.

Snape callously held Harry under Imperio the entire time, Lupin and I maintained a disillusionment and silencing charm. We didn't want to take any chances with him- but despite all that, Voldemort has been temporarily set back again. Harry's last words before Snape began controlling him were "I am Lord Voldemort."

Snape and I stood there in the tunnel.

All the time we spent teaching Harry occulomancy- wasted.

We were too late. Between the failed lessons his fifth year, Umbridge, betrayal after betrayal by friend and ministry- Voldemort must have found it child's play to break his mind. When Harry finally talked to us after his return, under a carefully administered Veriteserum dose, he described multiple layers of torture and kindnesses to an unknown purpose beyond information gathering. Setting him Azkaban allowed the memory of the torture and hidden commands to sink further then even the most experienced med wizard could detect.

And we brought him to a safe haven where he made a swift enough recovery we felt we could bring him back to school safely. We were fools. And the wizarding world was about to pay the price.


End file.

Harry Potter, Drama